Gaseous NGL, not being cryogenic, tends to include considerable entrained liquid natural gas. The presence of such entrained liquids undermines the qualitative accuracy of the energy value of the measured gas. This problem has been exacerbated with the substantial development of shale gas obtained from fracking. Unlike the typical gas obtained from conventional sources, a new analytical complication has been introduced due to the presence of heavy hydrocarbons (e.g. those composed of more than five carbon atoms and generally in liquid form) not present in stream obtained from traditional gas wells. Because of the significantly increased presence of such “liquid heavies” at high pressures, gas energy analysis requires reliance on process gas chromatographs. Such equipment is expensive, large, complicated, and maintenance-intensive.
Therefore a need exists for improvement to the presently accepted and commonly used systems and methods of liquid natural gas sampling that rely on process gas chromatographs. Specifically, the need exists for a system permitting the use of standard gas chromatography equipment in NGL, and particularly shale gas, analysis.